The biggest threat to coral reefs: Prices on Under Water cameras

[samaka]

I'm on my soap box...

ItÃÔ been said that every photo taken of you shortens your life with one day. IÃÎ not sure that this is entirely true since people like Brittney Speers is still around. However, Anna Nicole Smith might be of a different opinion. I am sure though, that this is true for the coral reefs in tourist dense areas. Divers have become the new Å«apaneseÇå

The last few years the prices for under water housings for cameras has dropped like a dumped weight belt at the same time as digital cameras has become everyoneÃÔ toy. IÃÎ not sure if this is a blessing or a curse. All of the sudden the majority of divers coming to dive the Red Sea carry a digital camera with an under water housing. Some small pocket cameras some big semi-pro cameras and most of them first time users that bought their photo equipment just before leaving for this holiday. Now, I donÃÕ say that there is anything wrong with the desire to document a holiday, nor feeling the need to get a new approach to diving by picking up U/W photography. However, divers bringing photo equipment are likely to be the main reason we see so many broken corals when we dive.

It seems like the moment you put a camera in the hands of a diver is the moment he forgets the half metre extension of his feet, everything he ever learned regarding buoyancy control and the ability to listen to good advice. Dive centres rent out camera equipment to the left and to the right with no other advice than how to take care of the camera. Not a word about taking care of the reef. Divers of course have the same desire, and right, to document their holidays as the next bird watcher. Every one wants to show friends and family pictures from their trip to Egypt when they get back home. Especially if you have done something as exciting as scuba diving! On land this is hardly ever a problem. You take a photo of the pyramids or the swinx, no harm done. Under water the situation is different. You have delicate marine life that might have taken centuries to grow that can be destroyed in a jiffy by the smack of a fin or a thump of a knee. I have seen it so many times; the side of the reef getting both figuratively and literally scraped clean by divers with cameras that IÃÎ actually surprised that we still have any soft corals left on reefs like Brother Islands or Elphinstone.

But itÃÔ not only the reefs that are in danger. IÃ×e seen divers with cameras follow sharks out in the blue, way too deep or up to fast to get the ÅÅigital evidence they need, risking to get swept away by the current, get bent or agitate the shark to a point on the brink of a leave-me-alone-nibble. Add some nitrogen narcosis to this equation and you have a potentially dangerous situation.

Some sea creatures get stressed easier than others, the carefree turtle for example, and the laidback dugong. They seem easily choreographed and willing to pose for the photographer but the reality is that they easily get stressed and might suffer mental and physical injuries if approached in the wrong way. This doesnÃÕ necessarily mean that the diver is stupid or a bad diver, just that he is distracted or preoccupied with his camera.

When buying an under water camera equipment itÃÔ easy to think ÅÊtÃÔ a harmless camera that can hurt no one and we have all heard the expression ÅÍeave nothing but bubbles, take nothing but pictures as a way to describe environmental awareness. It might be time to change the second half of that expression. The truth is that a camera is not as harmless as one might think. It can make you, unwillingly, take unnecessary risks and make you damage the very marine life you love, what made you take up diving in the first place.

There are diving photographers and there are picture snapping divers. The photographers know how to compose a picture and how to get a good result. Also they are cautious and alert, not to add to the bad reputation under water photographers already have. The picture snapping divers have no idea how to create a good photo and they return home with hundreds of crap pictures of fish swimming away taken from above. In pursuit of these earthly useless pictures they often tear down the reefs like bulldozers.

A lot of divers are now also upgrading to their ÅÔecond generation of camera equipment. This means that many people who finally got used to diving with a compact camera in a small housing have to start all over again. This time itÃÔ a NIKON D70 in an IKELITE housing and two big strobes. All of the sudden they have to think about shutter speed and aperture. And oups the subject left already The strobe-arms are sticking out scraping soft corals off the overhang. The water resistance increases and the air-consumption skyrockets And oups no air for safety stop

IÃ×e also noted that the enjoyment factor of the dive often fades as soon as the diver brings a camera. Often they get out of the water saying they werenÃÕ pleased about the dive and that there was nothing to see. Simultaneously other divers go into raptures over how fantastic an experience it was. Most of the time, the reason is that you miss a lot of whatÃÔ going on around you, if you spend the entire dive looking through a view finder.

When I used to teach U/W Photo courses I always started with the sentence ŵoday weÃÍl learn how to avoid taking the crap ones and I think this is one of the most vital piece advice dive guides and instructors can give to guests who come to dive with camera equipment. DonÃÕ take the crap photos! If you concentrate on getting only the nice shots and plan your photo dives, you would probably spare the reefs immensely. And you would actually learn how to get nice shots rather than just keep the ÅÏot so bad ones out of a few hundred bad. Instead of picking on the divers after the dive for the mistakes they did during the dive, try to come up with hints and tips before the dive. Here I would like to quote my friend Kimmo Hagman, one of the old-school-photographers who lives by the rule; Ūf you canÃÕ get the photo hovering, donÃÕ try to take it.

At the end of the day I think the task lands in the lap of the dive guides and dive centres to advise and teach divers with cameras to remember to respect the marine life: To create rules and enforce them. Take our responsibility when renting out under water cameras and include environmental aspects in the pre dive camera briefing. And why not offer a course in underwater photography combined with peak performance buoyancy?

I live and dive and work in the Red Sea where we ask our guests not to use gloves to avoid damaging the corals but can we really ask them not to bring their brand spanking new camera equipment? Of course we can, and I think itÃÔ our duty to do so if we see that the diver canÃÕ dive sensibly. Or we might loose the beauty of the reefs and the very source and motivation of the dive industry.

...a...

Read more by me on my Red Sea Information page:
http://www.aziab.dom

[maged_mmh]

Never seen anyone with even a P&S struggling in a S-Stop, not to mention buoyancy while shooting. Can't imagine that anybody not comfortable underwater yet should by any chance focus on anything but his own skills away from the distraction of the extra activities like spearfishing, photo, ...etc.
But again, what you're suggesting will be an extreme, to ask someone not to bring his "own" camera regardless of his skills! best you can do is provide a guided dive package for him with a DM babysitting him throughout his dives, or watching where he puts his hands, fins, SPG, ...etc.

[samaka]

Yeah we do provide "private guide" but then again this has to be booked in advanced. If I'm on the boat with one more guide and we have x amount of guests that might not be an option...

My point is the same as yours: Anyone who wants to bring a camera should be on a level of skills where he/she can handle it...

...a...

[Puffer Fish]

You have a very valid point. In the old days, the only people with camera's tended to be those with a lot of diving experience. Today, the price is so low, that anyone might have one.

But part of the problem is not just the new divers, or those with poor habits, some of the responsibility for this also lies with the dive operators.

My only professional experience with this was on a live aboard. As we had people coming from cold water to dive with us, it was common for people to have new suits and/or be using different tanks than they were used to. We always did a checkout dive, just to make sure they had working gear, proper weighting and had good buoyancy skills. Had we had new camera people, we would have included a new camera dive/refresher

Today, I have not seen a single place (hope they exist, just have not seen any) that actually offers any assistance in that regard.

What I see is a rush to just go dive...in the last 20 years, I have not seen any dive operator even ask if we needed a weight check, or discuss buoyancy/camera use before a dive.....and if they had, not sure what they would have done with the information.

I think one would be surprised how many people would like some assistance..and it might be a money making deal if done correctly.

[String]

The main threat i see is cheap travel, cheap diving courses and thousands and thousands of diver operations prepared to take divers onto coral reef despite the fact the divers lack the basic skills to dive it safely. Nothing to do with cameras - its all to do with the massive number of very low skilled divers being allowed there. Most of these are more than capable of battering the reef with or without a camera. Apparently now diving is "for everyone". Unfortunately, not everyone is really suited to it.

[mjh]

I agree with many of your points. I dove camera free for over 20yrs but have become addicted to the aluminum housed monster. While I think there are many bigger threats to the reefs than divers with cameras I do think diving photogs need to set the standard for excellent buoyancy and being reef friendly. At our website we have the following posted on our Conservation Page: Aquablue Dreams

Our Guidelines to Nature Photography

1. Always try to minimize our impact on the subject.
2. We will not move, handle, coax or prod any animal to capture a "better" photo.
3. We will not move, handle or disturb any coral or other structure to get a "better" photo of a subject.
4. We will be very conscious of our buoyancy in an attempt to avoid coming in contact with the reef or bottom.
5. Only one finger on the reef (dead section) to capture a photo.* If this is not possible than we will forgo the picture.
6. If we see a fellow diver harming the reef or its creatures intentionally or by accident we will no longer keep silent. We will try, with as much tact as possible, to raise the subject of protecting that which we have all come to SEE!
7. We will let guides know that we do not look for them to manipulate in any way the creatures and settings we have come to capture in pixels.

In fact I am researching trying to get something like the above adopted by the major training agencies and dive operations. I don't want to hijack the thread but my research with some major players shows all agree something should be done but all feel it has to start within the community itself. Then the dive ops and agencies can sign on without looking like they are trying to be the reef police.

If this is something you are interested in getting involved in feel free to PM me. I am starting to look for ideas of how to get folks organized to support some Guidelines for Diving Photographers.

[seaducer]

The main threat i see is cheap travel, cheap diving courses and thousands and thousands of diver operations prepared to take divers onto coral reef despite the fact the divers lack the basic skills to dive it safely. Nothing to do with cameras - its all to do with the massive number of very low skilled divers being allowed there. Most of these are more than capable of battering the reef with or without a camera. Apparently now diving is "for everyone". Unfortunately, not everyone is really suited to it.

I would agree with this, at least for the most part. I would not limit anyone from learning to dive, but I do wish new divers were better equipped to understand the environment they are entering and were better skilled to enter it. I mean, there are people on this board talking about getting certified in 3 days! I for one would prefer to see a return of rigorous training and extended length courses, if for no other reason than to weed out the "bucket list" types, and those who couldn't be bothered if it weren't so easy. Serious divers and photographers would make the sacrifices needed to dive, the idiots who don't care probably wouldn't bother.

At our website we have the following posted on our Conservation Page: Aquablue Dreams

Our Guidelines to Nature Photography

1. Always try to minimize our impact on the subject.
2. We will not move, handle, coax or prod any animal to capture a "better" photo.
3. We will not move, handle or disturb any coral or other structure to get a "better" photo of a subject.
4. We will be very conscious of our buoyancy in an attempt to avoid coming in contact with the reef or bottom.
5. Only one finger on the reef (dead section) to capture a photo.* If this is not possible than we will forgo the picture.
6. If we see a fellow diver harming the reef or its creatures intentionally or by accident we will no longer keep silent. We will try, with as much tact as possible, to raise the subject of protecting that which we have all come to SEE!
7. We will let guides know that we do not look for them to manipulate in any way the creatures and settings we have come to capture in pixels.

That is pretty much my philosophy, and my ability has been retarded by my refusal to violate those terms. Plenty of blurry shots, or those missed altogether in order preserve the very environment I am trying to record. I do think that most serious photographers behave in this way as well. But cheap and easy dive schools and cheap cameras are ingredients for busted corals and stressed out fish.

I will disagree with the OP in that I do not think the addition of a camera causes people to become unskilled or uncaring. These people the OP is talking about are already unskilled and/or uncaring. They just also happen to have a camera.

[Guba]

On my last trip to a "world-class" dive destination, nearly everyone in our dive party was packing photo gear. Long story made short...the ONLY person I saw touch the reef was the dive guide, and the only photographer who "molested" the critters (moved them to get a better shot) was the charter's own videographer! Needless to say, the rest of us were unimpressed.

Before we start banning photo equipment by the patrons, let's police the ranks of the "diving professionals".

Just a thought.

[seaducer]

On my last trip to a "world-class" dive destination, nearly everyone in our dive party was packing photo gear. Long story made short...the ONLY person I saw touch the reef was the dive guide, and the only photographer who "molested" the critters (moved them to get a better shot) was the charter's own videographer! Needless to say, the rest of us were unimpressed.

Before we start banning photo equipment by the patrons, let's police the ranks of the "diving professionals".

Just a thought.

I agree. I have seen dive guides molest all kinds of critters to make a better tip. I have even seen one restrain and kiss a nurse shark If only she had kissed back!

[sabbath999]

I see your point... to a point...

I am a NOOB diver, and I took a camera with me to Kona last week... We were doing our AOW training, and I only took my camera down with me on the sixth dive (a Manta night dive where everybody was sitting on a barren sandy bottom... and then I only took videos).

The last day, I took my camera (a little point & shoot) and just went to the bottom under the boat and shot some pictures. My goal was to take pictures without any part of me touching the reef, and I went down with an experienced photographer with over 2000 dives and watched carefully how HE did it.

I didn't wear gloves, I didn't hit the reef even once, and I worked very hard on my buoyancy. My pictures were... well... not very good, but that is to be expected from somebody with a P&S, no external flash and who is really working on his buoyancy before his photography skills. I am an extremely experienced land photographer.

Where I have to take issue with your statement is the "blanket" that you are covering everybody with. Yes, I used a cheap P&S camera with a cheap housing, but I wasn't destroying ANYTHING while I was down there, I wasn't messing up the reef or molesting the fish & wildlife like some people do... I was simply taking pictures and trying to leave only bubbles.

The problem is with people acting badly (divers and operators) who are not being conservation minded first.

Others on my boat were all over the place, doing all kinds of things I was not very happy with... and every one of them had more dives in than I had. At one site, there was a guy who was down with another dive operator who was trying to pull an octopus out from under a rock and darned near pulled the poor thing in half... Fortunately, his DM came racing over and told him to stop right away so I think the critter was OK.

Conservation isn't about what equipment somebody is carrying, it is about what equipment is between their ears.